Stranger Things: 16 Cool Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

Stranger Things has become a phenomenon ever since it first hit Netflix in summer 2016 and with at least four seasons planned, the horror-tinged, ’80s-set series isn’t going away anytime soon. One of the show’s most endearing qualities is how it wears its inspirations on its sleeve, as series creators Matt and Ross Duffer are up front with the fact that their show is essentially one big love letter to ’80s pop culture. The downside in this is that much of the show’s younger demographic are either too young to have grown up in the 1980s or weren’t even born yet, so there’s a good chance that many of the show’s references to the era have gone right over their heads. In celebration of the launch of the second season, we thought it would be fun to take a look at some Stranger Things trivia to prepare for another trip to the Upside-Down.

Here are some things you may not have known about Stranger Things (wow, that sentence sounds redundant).

16. The Show Was Rejected More Than 15 Times

Before finally landing at Netflix, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer had their show rejected by seemingly every network on earth. In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, the brothers estimated that the show was rejected anywhere from 15 to 20 times by various networks. As they explain it, the chief reason why nobody wanted to touch Stranger Things is that network executives couldn’t wrap their minds around the idea of a show that featured kids as leads, but wasn’t actually a children’s show.

The Duffers were essentially told that they’d have to choose one or the other:

“You either gotta make it into a kids show or make it about this Hopper [detective] character investigating paranormal activity around town,” one [network executive] told them. Matt recalls replying, “Then we lose everything interesting about the show.”

Considering how successful the show has been for Netflix, we’re sure there are more than a few executives out there who are kicking themselves for not picking up Stranger Things when they had the chance!

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15. The Upside-Down Has A Ton Of Backstory

The netherworld realm known as the “Upside Down” is the beating dark heart at the center of Stranger Things and according to Ross Duffer, there’s a ton of backstory behind it. In an interview with Variety, Duffer revealed that there’s an intricate 30-page document about the Upside Down, detailing “what it all means, where this monster actually came from, and why aren’t there more monsters.” The brothers plan to explore the Upside Down’s history more in later seasons of the show.

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14. Pennywise Says Hello

Watching Andy Muschietti’s 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s classic horror novel It, it was hard not to be reminded of Stranger Things, as both are set in the ’80s and feature children as the leads. That’s probably because those connections weren’t accidental, as the Duffer Brothers have been pretty upfront about Stranger Things being heavily influenced by King’s work. In fact, the duo originally pitched a remake of It to Warner Bros., but were turned down due to their lack of experience and went on to create Stranger Things instead.

The It connections don’t end there, however. Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler, also stars in Stephen King’s It as Richie Tozier. Wolfhard was actually offered the role of Richie before being chosen to play Mike and nearly had to back out of Stranger Things before development delays on It made him available to participate in both projects. In a knowing wink to King’s story, the final episode of Stranger Things’ first season sees the kids trying to kill the demogorgon monster with a slingshot, which is similar to how the kids use a slingshot to try and kill Pennywise both in his clown and spider forms.

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13. Other Stephen King Nods

It isn’t the only Stephen King work referenced in Stranger Things, as the series actually alludes to quite a few of the “Master of Horror’s” stories. The series logo, for instance, resembles the font used on the covers for the original 1980s editions of Cujo and Christine, and at one point, a state trooper guarding the morgue can be seen reading the former novel. Phil Callahan, a police officer at the Hawkins Police Department, can be read as a reference to Father Callahan, a character from Salem’s Lot and the Dark Tower series.

Another, slightly more subtle nod is the fact that Eleven’s nose bleeds whenever she uses her telekinetic powers. This symptom is shared by David Keith’s telekinetic father in the ’80s cult classic Firestarter, which also stars a young Drew Barrymore. This movie is based on a Stephen King novel and interestingly, Barrymore plays a telekinetic girl pursued by the government, who want to user her powers as a weapon. Sound familiar?

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12. The Actor Who Plays Dustin Has A Real Medical Condition

During the pilot episode when the boys are confronted by group of bullies, Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) is mocked about his teeth, to which he replies that it’s because he has “Cleidocranial Dysplasia.” Not only is this a real medical condition, but it’s one that Matarazza is actually affected by. Matarazza was born with Cleidocranial Dysplasia, a rare congenital disorder that primarily affects the development of bones and teeth. Typically, the collarbone is either poorly developed or absent, which pushes the shoulders closer together. In Gaten’s case, his condition is mild and non-genetic, which means that his particular affliction is actually extremely rare, as the condition is typically passed down through the genes.

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11. Jaws

In addition to Stephen King, Stranger Things also pays homage to another famous “Steve” in Steven Spielberg. One Spielberg reference that is carried on throughout the series is the Hawkins Police Department’s vehicles and uniforms, which are identical to those used by the authorities in Jaws and Jaws 2. Specifically, this includes Chief Hopper’s tan uniform, the Amity Island triangle shaped patch, and the beige SUV used by Roy Scheider’s character. The blue uniforms and hats worn by the patrolmen also match the Amity Island Police uniforms from Jaws.

The show in general has a very Spielberg-inspired vibe, with the director’s 1982 film E.T. the Extra Terrestrial being an obvious influence. Here are just a few examples of the E.T./Stranger Things parallels: both feature early scenes of a group of boys playing Dungeons & Dragons; the scene where Will runs into the shed in Chapter One was an intentional homage to a similar shot in E.T.; the bond between Mike and Eleven is reminiscent of the friendship between E.T. and Elliott, and both the show and movie feature a scene where the kids escape from government agents on their bikes.

Oh and the Duffer brothers have admitted that Winona Ryder’s character Joyce was heavily inspired by Roy Neary, the character played by Richard Dreyfuss in Spielberg’s 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

10. Eleven

All the child actors in Stranger Things are great, but if one were to declare a breakout star, it would be Millie Bobby Brown, who has been sensational thus far as the mysterious telekinetic girl Eleven. Interestingly, Brown was eleven years old when she was cast in the role and even though she only has approximately 42 lines of dialogue in the first season, she was still able to make a lasting impression. Part of the reason for that was likely due to Eleven’s shaven head, which was modeled after Charlize Theron’s heroine from Mad Max: Fury Road. You can actually find footage of Millie Bobby Brown’s mom shaving her daughter’s head in preparation for her role; an event that was apparently so traumatizing for her father that ended up sobbing and not being able to watch.

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9. Silent Hill

Stranger Things’ inspirations don’t begin and end with ’80s pop culture, as the series seems to draw inspiration from the Silent Hill video game series, particularly Silent Hill: Homecoming. There are obvious parallels between Silent Hill’s “Otherworld” and the Upside-Down, as both mirror the real world, but are decrepit environments shrouded in haze and falling ash-like flakes. Both worlds also feature living wall portals and at one point in Stranger Things, an agent named “Shepherd” tears into the wall so he can pass through, just as the character Alex Shepherd does in Homecoming. Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) bears a striking resemblance to Alex Shepherd’s little brother, Joshua and the Wheeler family name is shared with Deputy Wheeler from Homecoming.

There’s also a prominent character named Elle (El) in Silent Hill: Homecoming and an “Eleanor Gillespie” is mentioned in Stranger Things at one point. Interestingly, the Gillespies are an important family in the Silent Hill mythos and the character Alessa Gillespie is a telekinetic little girl who spends most of her life in a hospital, similar to how Eleven spends most of her’s in Hawkins National Labratory.

8. Earthbound Nod

Another prominent video game reference can be found in the blonde wig and pink dress disguise that Mike and his friends dress up Eleven in. Role-playing game aficionados will recognize that Eleven’s appearance is nearly identical to that of Paula, a girl from the 1994 Super Nintendo classic Earthbound. Similarly to Eleven, Paula also possess psychokinetic powers and travels around quaint American towns on bicycles with boys fighting otherworldly evil.

7. The Last of Us Connections

Another game that shares a few similarities with Stranger Things is The Last of Us, the award-winning action adventure game developed by Naughty Dog that features a man named Joel accompanying a young girl named Ellie on a journey across a post-apocalyptic United States. The Duffers have explicitly noted that The Last of Us is a game that inspired Stranger Things. One connection that the Duffers have alluded to is the similarity between Eleven and Ellie, as both are similarly named preteen girls with remarkable qualities. Additionally, Eleven reminds Sheriff Hopper of his deceased daughter, just as Ellie reminds Joel of his own child who passed away.

6. Some of the Episode Titles Are Homages to Classic Horror

Each episode of Stranger Things is designated as a chapter and while some of the episode titles are pretty straightforward (The Vanishing of Will Byers is self-explanatory), a few of them are references to other horror-themed stories. Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street could be a nod to Stephen King’s short story “The House on Maple Street,” but also seems to be clearly referencing Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone classic, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.” In the episode, a group of neighbors are gripped by fear and paranoia after gradually becoming convinced that aliens/monsters are invading their neighborhood, and they eventually turn to outright murder. The people end up being the real monsters on Maple Street but the episode ends with the shocking final reveal that there are in fact two aliens manipulating the power grid on the street and coming to the realization that conquering the planet would be a simple task if it was this easy to turn humans against each other.

Meanwhile, Chapter Four: The Body, is a straight reference to the Stephen King novella of the same name, which was later turned into the movie Stand by Me. The story of four friends who set out in search of a dead boy their age (just as the group goes looking for Will), many scenes in this episode parallel the events of Stand by Me, particularly the scene of the kids walking along the railroad tracks and when they hide out at the local junkyard. The final noteworthy episode title is Chapter Seven: The Bathtub, is possibly a nod to the famous bathtub sequence in The Shining.

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5. The Demogorgon

The boys name season one’s monster after the Demogorgon from Dungeons & Dragons and this is an actual monster from the game. In the game, Demogorgon is the powerful, self-proclaimed Prince of Demons who lives on the 88th layer of the Abyss in a palace with two twin towers shaped like tightly coiled serpents. Besides both being monsters however, there aren’t many similarities between the two Demogorgons, as the D&D version has two snake-like heads with individual minds that are ironically bent on killing the other (but can’t because they are one and the same being). And while the Demogorgon is a real Dungeons & Dragons creation, the “veil of shadows” is not and seems to be based on Shadowfell, a plane connected to the material world that is populated by undead and evil creatures.

4. The Lord of the Rings References

In addition to Dungeons & Dragons, another fantasy property that the Stranger Things boys are obviously big fans of is J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. As such, there are a few allusions to Tolkien’s work, most notably when Joyce goes looking for her son Will at Castle Byers and has a flashback, where it’s revealed that the password to get in is “Radagast.” Radagast, of course, is one of the five wizards from Lord of the Rings, the other four being Gandalf the Gray, Saruman the White, and Alatar and Pallando the blue wizards. And in an interesting bit of stunt casting, Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings films, plays the character Bob Newby in the show’s second season.

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3. Connections To ‘The Walking Dead’

Stranger Things is well-recognized for its many homages to classic ’80s films and pop culture, but you may not have noticed that the show has some connections to another horror-themed TV series too. While there aren’t any explicit references to AMC’s The Walking Dead in Stranger Things, the two series are linked in a couple small ways. For instance, twin actresses Anniston and Tinsley Price, who play Mike and Nancy Wheeler’s younger sister Holly, made her acting debut on The Walking Dead, playing baby Judith in the show’s fourth season. According to the Duffers, the twins made the most of their limited screen time by improvising all of their best moments, such as when she gets upset by Dustin and sinks in her chair in “Chapter Two” and when Joyce asks if she saw something in the wall and she replies back confidently “yes.”

Additionally, the scenes at the quarry are also the same location used in The Walking Dead’sSeason 1 episode, “Vatos.” It also appears in the Netflix movie The Fundamentals of Caring.

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2. Steve Was Originally Going To Be A Huge D-Bag

One of the most surprising character turnarounds in Stranger Things has to be Nancy Wheeler’s boyfriend Steve, who starts the first season off as kind of a jerk and bully, but ends up reforming by the end and becoming an all-around decent guy, to the point where he and Nancy actually stay together. According to the Duffer brothers, Steve was originally not supposed to have a third act turnaround, but actor Joe Keery was so good and charming in the role that they felt like they had to give him a proper “arc.”

“He was much more likable and charming than we originally had envisioned. If you read the pilot, he”s the biggest douchebag on the planet,” Ross Duffer said. “Joe was so good we started to fall in love with the idea that he has an arc himself. He”s maybe not the perfect guy, but he”s maybe in with the wrong crowd. As opposed to him turning Nancy to his side, maybe it”s more Nancy turning him to her side. We liked giving him that arc.”

Looking back, we probably should have seen Steve’s turnaround coming considering he wears the same shoes as Marty McFly from Back to the Future throughout the season.

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1. Nancy on Elm Street

The character Nancy Wheeler, played by Natalia Dyer, is actually an homage to Heather Langenkamp’s character from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, to the point where her clothes and hairstyle are similar at times.The similarity between the two only only becomes more apparent as the first season draws to a close. Just like her Elm Street counterpart did with Freddy Krueger, Nancy Wheeler is determined to stop the monster that is terrorizing Hawkins and sets up a number of traps to try and kill the Demogorgon. The final showdown is also reminiscent of Nancy’s battle with Freddy Krueger, only this time, neither of her male friends are swallowed up and murdered by their beds like poor Johnny Depp’s character was.